Abstract: A method for personalized location privacy recommendation comprises: obtaining information of one or more locations for a user; collecting features of the one or more locations; and recommending respective privacy levels of the one or more locations automatically based at least in part on the information and the features.

Abstract: An approach is provided for providing group context sensing and inference. The group context platform determines at least one group of one or more devices that have one or more group contexts that are at least substantially similar, at least substantially correlated, or a combination thereof. Next, the group context platform causes, at least in part, a distribution of one or more context sensing tasks among the one or more devices of the at least one group. Then, the group context platform processes and/or facilitates a processing of one or more results of the one or more context sensing tasks to (a) modify the one or more group contexts; (b) enhance the one or more group contexts; (c) determine one or more other group contexts; or (d) a combination thereof.

Abstract: Method, apparatus, system, computer program product and computer readable medium are disclosed for enhancing a user's engagement or experience with a service. The method comprises obtaining the user's current active level with respect to the service with respect to the service; determining a target active level; and sending the user a notification about the service at a time determined based on the user's current active level and the target active level, so that the user is notified of the service without being severely annoyed.

Abstract: An approach is provided for determining significant places with greatly improved accuracy using universally available identifier information. A significant place platform causes, at least in part, a mapping of one or more communication coverage areas associated with one or more identifiers onto at least one geo-grid, wherein the one or more identifiers are associated with at least one device operating within at least one communication network. The significant place platform further processes the one or more identifiers to determine one or more significance scores associated with one or more grid units of the at least one geo-grid. The significant place platform also determines at least one significant place based, at least in part, on the one or more significance scores.

Abstract: An approach is provided for providing hub-based indexing and services. The hub-based platform causes, at least in part, an indexing of location-based content according to one or more location hubs of one or more transportation lines, Next, the hub-based platform determines a current proximity, a predicted proximity, or a combination thereof of one or more devices to the one or more location hubs, wherein the one or more devices are (a) traveling on the one or more transportation lines, (b) predicted to travel on the one or more transportation lines, or (c) a combination thereof. Then, the hub-based platform causes, at least in part, a presentation of at least a portion of the location-based content based, at least in part, on the current proximity, the predicted proximity, or a combination thereof.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for transmitting information. In one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for transmitting information, comprising: creating an activity in response to having received inputted information from a user U; looking up a first number of users matching the activity in contact information of the user U; adding the first number of users into a candidate list; transmitting a notification of the activity to users in the candidate list; wherein the contact information comprises at least one address book through which the user U communicates with a plurality of other users via at least one communication channel. In other embodiments of the present invention, there is further provided apparatuses for transmitting information.

Abstract: An approach is provided for performing multiple and hybrid forms of communication in the same communication session. A communication manager receives a to establish a communication session using a first form of communication, wherein the communication session supports multiple and simultaneous forms of communication. Next, the communication manager selects a second form of communication to conduct the communication session. Then, the communication manager transcodes the second form of communication to the first form of communication. The different forms can be converted to facilitate and enrich the communication capability, according to an embodiment of the invention.

Abstract: An approach is provided for classifying significant places (stay points) into place categories. A classification platform determines user contextual information associated with at least one significant place. The classification platform further causes, at least in part, a comparison of the user contextual information against reference contextual information associated with one or more place categories. The classification platform also causes, at least in part, a classification of the at least one significant place into the one or more place categories based, at least in part, on the comparison.

Abstract: An approach is provided for determining user profiles with respect to content items based on segments of the content items. In an example embodiment, a segment-based user profile platform determines rating information associated with one or more segments of one or more content items corresponding to at least one user, wherein the one or more segments are discrete portions of the one or more content items. The segment-based user profile platform further processes the rating information to determine at least one profile of the at least one user.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for enriching social media to improve personalized user experience are provide, the method comprising: receiving highlights and/or annotations in at least one electronic document made by at least one user; extracting keywords from the respective at least one electronic document with the highlights and/or annotations as tags of the respective at least one electronic document; and using the keywords as tags of the respective at least one electronic document to provide personalized contents from the at least one electronic document to a user. Thus, by having high quality/relevant tags from a plurality of users for a given document, we may better profile the document. Similarly, by having high quality and insightful tags that a user has given to a plurality of documents, we may better profile the user's interest and behavior. By having better document and user profiling, we may better recommend the right documents to right users.

Abstract: An approach is provided for a method for intelligent and personalized web information discovery and user interface. A method can comprise building a hierarchical, tree-structured topic model involving data intelligence and human intelligence, that comprises one or more nodes which have respective topics and are configured to map the respective topics to display spaces of a user interface. The method can further comprise collecting web contents matched with the respective topics causing to render information of the collected web contents in the display spaces mapped to the respective topics.

Abstract: An approach is provided for constructing dynamic latent models that determine consumer/social network intrinsic properties and automatically recommend user interactions with different social networks. A modeling platform determines one or more social networks associated with one or more users, one or more devices associated with the one or more users, or a combination thereof. A modeling platform processes and/or facilitates a processing of data associated with the one or more social networks to generate one or more latent models describing the one or more social networks. A modeling platform causes, at least in part, a presentation of a recommendation to interact with the one or more social networks, one or more other social networks, or a combination thereof based, at least in part, on the one or more latent models.

Abstract: An approach is provided for using spread simulations to enhance media distribution. The distribution processer determines one or more seed user groups made of one or more seed users. Next, the distribution processor processes and/or facilitates a processing of one or more spread process simulations with the one or more seed user groups. Then, the distribution processor causes, at least in part, media distribution based, at least in part, on the one or more spread process simulations.

Abstract: An approach is provided for performing multiple and hybrid forms of communication in the same communication session. A communication manager receives a to establish a communication session using a first form of communication, wherein the communication session supports multiple and simultaneous forms of communication. Next, the communication manager selects a second form of communication to conduct the communication session. Then, the communication manager transcodes the second form of communication to the first form of communication. The different forms can be converted to facilitate and enrich the communication capability, according to an embodiment of the invention.

Abstract: An approach is provided for determining a user age range. An age estimator causes, at least in part, acquisition of voice data. Next, the age estimator calculates a first set of probability values, wherein each of the probability values represents a probability that the voice data is in a respective one of a plurality of predefined age ranges, and the predefined age ranges are segments of a lifespan. Then, the age estimator derives a second set of probability values by applying a correlation matrix to the first set of probability values, wherein the correlation matrix associates the first set of probability values with probabilities of the voice data matching individual ages over the lifespan. Then, the age estimator, for each of the predefined age ranges, calculates a sum of the probabilities in the second set of probability values corresponding to the individual ages within the respective predefined age ranges.

Abstract: A method for creating and managing ad-hoc context constrained music channels is described. The method includes, in response to a request to initiate a music channel, determining whether music content available for the music channel is relevant and/or sufficient. At least one piece of the music content available is stored in a memory controlled by a user of the music channel. The method also includes, in response to determining that music content available is relevant and/or sufficient, creating the music channel. Apparatus and computer readable media are also described.

Abstract: An approach for recommending location-based content items that account for locations with ease of access based on available transportation options is described. A content recommender platform determines one or more predicted locations of a user based, at least in part, on an ease of access from a location associated with the use. The content recommender platform determines one or more location-based content items associated with the one or more predicted locations, the location, or a combination thereof. The content recommender platform determines one or more recommended content items from among the one or more location-based content items. In this way, the recommended content items may be easily accessible and may accord with the user's preferences.

Abstract: Techniques to provide a secure, shared personal map layer include determining a geographic location. The geographic location is associated with operation of a device. The techniques also include determining indication that describes a relationship between the geographic location and a first user of the device. The techniques also include determining a privacy level for the indication. Then, the first user of the device is associated with the indication and the geographic location and the privacy level. In some embodiments, the techniques also include determining a personal description vocabulary word based, at least in part, on the geographic location and a context for the device. Then it is determined to present on the device a prompt that includes the personal description vocabulary word.

Abstract: An approach is provided for associating interest tags with media items based on social diffusions among users. The media tagging platform processes and/or facilitates a processing of one or more user profiles to determine one or more interest tags relating to one or more users, captured at one or more user devices to determine one or more frequencies of the one or more signals. Next, the media tagging platform determines one or more social diffusions of the one or more media items among the one or more users. Then, the media tagging platform causes, at least in part, an association of the one or more media items with the one or more interest tags based, at least in part, on the one or more social diffusions.

Abstract: Methods and apparatuses are provided for user interest modeling. A method may include accessing logged interactive user history data for a user data for a user. The method may additionally include determining at least one user interest topic for the user by utilizing a topic model acting upon at least a portion of the logged interactive user history data and one or more seed documents generated from a topic feature source. Corresponding apparatuses are also provided.